Joe Thornton reaches agreement with San Jose Sharks on a one-year, $2 million contract

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SAN JOSE, CA – MARCH 14: San Jose Sharks’ Joe Thornton (19) waits for a face-off against the Florida Panthers in the second period at the SAP Center in San Jose, Calif., on Thursday, March 14, 2019. (Nhat V. Meyer/Bay Area News Group)

SAN JOSE — Standing in front of his familiar stall inside the Sharks’ dressing room at their practice facility, Joe Thornton was asked why it took so long for him to reach the one-year, $2 million deal he signed with the team Friday.

Thornton. who turned 40 in July, joked that general manager Doug Wilson originally sent him the same eight-year, $92-million contract that defenseman Erik Karlsson got this summer.

“I said, ‘Ah, Doug, I don’t want to be greedy. I don’t want to take that right now. Let’s just start at one year,’” Thornton said. “So we kind of worked our way down to seven years, and then to six. Doug wanted five and I said, ‘No, no.” (Majority owner) Hasso (Plattner) phoned and wanted four, and I said, ‘Let’s just go one year.’

“It took a while to negotiate down for me, so, here we are. I’m happy with it.”

So are the Sharks, who have their future Hall of Fame centerman back in the fold for at least another year, as Wilson completed his last big piece of business before the start of training camp next week.

In July, Wilson signed Timo Meier to a four-year extension and fellow restricted free agent Kevin Labanc to a one-year deal. After Thornton took some time away in August, he and Wilson got together and finally hammered out the deal they knew they would get done.

Thornton said June 18 in Las Vegas, a day before the NHL Awards, that he wanted to come back and play at least one more season. Wilson said earlier this summer as well that Thornton would be welcomed back if he did decide to return.

“Great way to start the season,” Wilson said, “not only with Jumbo signing, but having everybody under contract and ready to go.”

Takeaways from Friday’s announcement:

1. Thornton is confident he can still contribute: Thornton finally entered an offseason where he didn’t have to rehabilitate a knee injury, something he said in May would factor into his decision on whether to return. Thornton tore the anterior cruciate and medial collateral ligaments in his left knee in April 2017, and had the exact same injury in Jan. 2018, only to his right knee.

Thornton wasn’t quite 100 percent at the start of last season, but was still eighth on the Sharks with 51 points in 73 games, in which he averaged 15 minutes and 33 seconds of ice time,

What can he give the Sharks this year? It’s probably fair to expect similar numbers, although his time on ice might go down a tad. Logan Couture and Tomas Hertl are still projected to be the Sharks’ top two centers, and it doesn’t appear there’s anyone on the roster ready to be play the middle on the third line.

Thornton said he might be given more maintenance days by coach Pete DeBoer throughout the season, but doesn’t foresee sitting out games.

“I always like kind of playing the games, that’s the fun part,” Thornton said. “But I don’t know. I don’t know what Pete has in store for me. As of right now, I want to play every game and feel healthy.”

2. This is the group the Sharks are rolling with: Wilson said he’s once again not bringing in a veteran player for a camp tryout. Also, despite having roughly $2.6 million left in salary cap space for the upcoming season, doesn’t anticipate signing another player — such as a depth forward — at the moment.

Wilson wants to give some of his younger players a chance to win a job out of camp, and as of now, the Sharks have only 10 forwards on one-way contracts.

“If you can add some people great, your cap space will evolve and grow between now and the trade deadline, so if opportunities come you always look at it,” Wilson said. “But as we’re sitting here today this is our group. Really looking forward to these younger players coming in who look at the opportunities and can’t want to seize that opportunity.”

3. Thornton on Joe Pavelski’s departure: Thornton and Joe Pavelski were synonymous with one another for more than a decade. Big Joe and Little Joe. The playmaker with the scorer. Pavelski, though, signed a lucrative three-year, $21 million deal with the Dallas Stars on July 1, leaving the Sharks — who did not offer a similar contract — after 13 years in teal. Pavelski was the Sharks’ captain for four years.

“He’s a good friend to all of these guys in here and he’s a great captain. We’re definitely going to miss him,” Thornton said. ‘He’s going to happy in Dallas and we’ve got to move on, He was a great Shark and it was an honor to play with him.”

4. Thornton on Logan Couture: Since Pavelski left via free agency, it’s been widely speculated that Logan Couture would become the Sharks’ next captain. Couture, 30, is entering his 11th NHL season, all with the Sharks, and was an alternate captain the last four seasons.

Is Couture ready to wear the ‘C’?

“I think so. You have a lot of candidates,” Thornton said. “You’ve got Burnzie, you’ve got Erik, you’ve got Tommy Hertl. Probably leaving out some names, but all of these guys are great guys, great leaders. I’m sure whoever is going to get it is going to be honored and do a great job for us.”

Does Thornton still want to wear a letter?

“Oh, it doesn’t matter to me,” he said.

5. Patrick Marleau not a fit: Marleau, the Sharks’ all-time leader in games played (1,493) and points (1,082), was at the Sharks’ facility Friday taking part in one of the team’s informal captain’s skates. But he will not be returning to the Sharks, with Wilson wanting to give more chances to younger players in the system.

Marleau signed a three-year deal with the Toronto Maple Leafs in July 2, 2017. He was traded to Carolina in June, but the last year of his contract was bought out by the Hurricanes shortly after.

Wilson said when Marleau left San Jose more than two years ago, it opened the door for players like Meier, Hertl and Labanc to make a bigger contribution. Wilson also feels the Sharks are pretty much set at center and on left wing, where they have Evander Kane, Meier and Marcus Sorensen.

“It in no way takes away how we feel about Patrick Marleau,” Wilson said. “We will honor him and he’ll always be a Shark in our mind.”

6. Health updates: Per Wilson, Karlsson, coming off groin surgery in June, will be full-go once camp begins next Friday. Wilson said, though, that defenseman Radim Simek will need more time. Simek tore the ACL and MCL in his right knee in a game against the Winnipeg Jets in March.

“(Simek) has still got a little bit more time just to get some added strength, but we expect him to be ready for opening night,” Wilson said. “I think that’s really it on the health side, everybody is pretty good.”